Sunday, March 16, 2014

Thousand of young job seekers invited to take an aptitude test
by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) have seized all roads leading to
the National Stadium venue of the test in protest.

The applicants who said they
were shortchanged by the Immigration Service are currently chanting anti-
government songs insisting they won’t be going home anytime soon.

Several of them said, " after all, we have no jobs and, therefore,
there is nothing to return home to do."

They are also calling for
the refund of N1,000 application fee taken from them to enroll for the NIS job
screening test that did not hold in Lagos as planned.

At least 100,000 of them
came to the 45,000-capacity National Stadium early today, with, the hope
of gettin, a position out of the 3,000 job openings declared by the NIS but the
screening exercise was cancelled.

Already at least 20
applicants have been confirmed dead in a stampede at different venues
across the country while lots of many are in critical conditions. Below is a
detailed account of all that went down yesterday.......

3 Applicants Die, one in critical condition while the other
three are in stable condition In Niger State

Three of the over
11,000 candidates for the aptitude test for recruitment into the Nigeria
Immigration Service were on Saturday feared dead in Minna, Niger State capital.

They died
following a stampede during accreditation and clearance of candidates to enter
into the examination hall.

Situation got out of
the control of Immigration personnel as the applicants overwhelmed the
officials supervising the exercise forcing one of the officers to open
tear gas and in the process seven persons collapsed and were rushed to the
hospital where three persons gave up the ghost.

Trouble started when the applicants became unruly as they complained of the
slow pace of the accreditation the Chief examiner from the headquarters of the
service whom we gathered insisted to call names of the candidates based on the
serial numbers of the application forms but did not go down well with the
candidates.

This development
precipitated a rowdy session as most candidates who were on a queue became
apprehensive and complained that the line, which was over a kilometre was not
moving as anticipated.

One of the victims
that was rushed to Minna General Hospital was in a critical condition while
the other three injured victims are said to have been stable but
quarantined from the public and the media.

Efforts to get details
about the victims were fruitless as the hospital authority and staff refused to
comment based on security directive.

But a medical
personnel confirmed that three of the seven injured persons were dead, one in
critical condition while the other three are in stable condition.

He further said that
the bodies of those who died have been deposited at the mortuary.

But the state
Commissioner for Health, Dr Ibrahim Sule said only two of the applicants dead.
According to him, “one female was reported dead on arrival at the hospital and
the other male applicant died at Minna General Hospital.”

He also said that four
other males were equally treated and discharged, while seven other females
applicants are currently receiving treatment for their injuries at the
hospital.

The Niger State
Controller of Immigration Service, Ezekiel S. Kaura confirmed that 11,000
candidates sat for the recruitment examination in Minna centre but said that
five collapsed as a result stampeded and were rushed to the hospital.

Three Pregnant Women Die, 20 Others Injured In Benin

Three pregnant women
participating in the Benin zone of the immigration recruitment exercises
slumped and died immediately inside the main bowl of Samuel Ogbemudia stadium
on Saturday.

The applicants had
turned up for the exercise as early as 6am , but the screening couldn’t start
till 2:15pm when some of the applicants started leaving after the stampede .

Trouble started around
10 am, when the immigration officials incharge of the screening lost control of
the crowd prompting the soldiers on guard to start shooting sporadically in
into the air.

Over twenty eight
thousands applicants that took part in the one day exercise started running for
safety that resulted in stampede .

As the time of filing
this story over twenty persons are been revived at a nearby hospitals while the
three pregnant women died before help came their way .

Some of the applicants who with our reporter condemned the way and manner the
exercise is be conducted with the immigration officials in charge having no
human feelings.

Mr Isaac, an applicant
expressed shock over the inhuman way they were been treated by the recruiting
officers .

“Can you imagine sir,
this is 2: 10 pm , we are still loitering around with no concrete information
from the recruiting officers.

“Oga, they should help
asked the immigration officials, why the shooting . To organize the applicants
is easy . Now , the shooting has cause big problem .

Three pregnant women
died, over twenty persons are been hospitalized . Now, the exercise is on hold
.”

Four Applicants Dead, Four in critical condition, four treated and discharged In Port Harcourt

Hospital authorities
at the Rivers government-owned Braithwaite Memorial Hospital in Port Harcourt
have confirmed that four candidates died during a stampede at the Nigeria
Immigration Service recruitment.

The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 20,000 candidates were involved in a
stampede at the Liberation stadium, Port Harcourt, venue of the exercise on
Saturday morning.

The news agency quoted
a source at the hospital as saying 12 candidates were brought to the hospital
after the stampede.

“I can confirm to you
that four have died, four others in critical condition while four were treated
and discharged,’’ the source said.

The source, who
pleaded for anonymity, said a pregnant woman was among the dead.

The source said
doctors and specialists have been called back to duty to assist to save the
lives of the remaining four candidates on emergency list.

“Some of the
candidates were in bad condition because they were trampled upon during the
stampede,” the source said.

At the military hospital, Port Harcourt, authorities confirmed receiving some
of the injured persons but said they were being taken care of.

However, Mr. Abang
Bisong, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Rivers
Command, confirmed to NAN that some of the injured were taken to the hospital
but did not know their condition.

The Immigration
recruitment held across Nigeria on Saturday with several reports of deaths and
stampede from different states. Advertised positions were for university
graduates, diploma holders and Senior Secondary School Certificate holders.

10 applicants faint in Imo State

However, in Imo State,
Gov. Rochas Okorocha assured the job seekers that he would ensure that they
were not short-changed in the recruitment.

Mr. Okorocha gave the
assurance in Owerri on Saturday at Dan Anyiam Stadium where thousands of
applicants gathered for the aptitude test for employment in NIS.

He said he would
ensure that the employment quota for Imo was filled by indigenes of the state.

The governor said that
not all the applicants would be successful and advised them to also apply for
jobs in the “Imo Youths Must Work programme” of the state government.

NAN reports that no
fewer than 10 applicants, including three expectant mothers, fainted while
waiting for the commencement of the test.

Some of the applicants
expressed disappointment over the manner the exercise was organised.

An applicant, Nwakuche
Isigu, said he left his village in Oguta Local Government Area by 6a.m. to
ensure that he arrived early at the venue.

Another applicant,
Onyemobi Anyanwu, called on the Federal Government to create more jobs for the
youth.

In Kebbi, 5,000
applicants assembled at Halliru Abdu Stadium, where officials had tough time
controlling the applicants.

The venue witnessed a
boom in economic activities as food and snacks vendors as well as sachet water
sellers enjoyed good patronage.

The police, Federal
Road Safety Cops and National Security and Civil Defence Corps personnel
assisted in the maintenance of order at the venue. (NAN)

Ten Applicants Dead in Abuja

At least 10 job
seekers died earlier Saturday while many more sustained varying degrees of
injury during a stampede at the National Stadium in Abuja, the venue of a
recruitment test by the Nigeria Immigrations Service (NIS).

Several thousands of
job-seekers thronged the stadium to take the test, but Immigration officials
made available only one entrance to the 60,000-capacity stadium. An applicant
who turned back after seeing the crowd said it was clear that the applicants were
more than 60,000.

At least 40 of the
injured were admitted at the National Hospital in Abuja, a source at the
hospital said, adding that several others were referred to other hospitals due
to lack of capacity to admit and treat all those injured. A source at the
hospital said he expected the death toll to rise.

The recruitment
exercise also went on in all other states of the federation. At the National
Stadium, Surulere — venue of the Lagos recruitment exercise — an applicant
told SaharaReporters that prospective job-seekers present on Saturday morning
far outnumbered the 45,000 capacity of the stadium.

“I can tell you that
more than 100,000 people came for this test,” he said. “I have never seen this
kind of crowd before in my life. Even if this was a FIFA World Cup football
match, you will never get these many spectators.”

The huge crowds at the
various recruitment centers all over Nigeria were not a strange development,
considering Nigeria’s unimpressive unemployment statistics.

In 2011, the National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the country’s unemployment rate at 23.9%.
However, industry analysts believe that not only is the true unemployment
figure far higher but that the rise in the rate of unemployment over the last
three years has been deliberately underestimated by the Nigerian government to
paint a rosy picture of economic recovery.

Abuja — the Federal
Capital territory (FCT) venue of the ongoing recruitment test by the Nigeria
Immigrations Service (NIS).

Several thousands of
job-seekers thronged the stadium to write the test but only one entrance to the
60,000-capacity stadium was made available. An applicant who turned back after
seeing the crowd said there was no way the applicants would not have been more
than 60,000.

At least 40 of those
who were injured were admitted at the National Hospital in Abuja, a source at
the hospital said, adding that several others were referred to other hospitals
due to lack of capacity to admit and treat all those injured.

The recruitment
exercise is also ongoing in all other states of the federation. At the National
Stadium, Surulere — venue of the Lagos recruitment exercise — an applicant told SaharaReporters that prospective job-seekers present on
Saturday far outnumbered the 45,000 capacity of the stadium.

“I can tell you that
more than 100,000 people came for this test”, he said. “I have never seen this
kind of crowd before in my life. Even if this was a FIFA World Cup football
match, you will never get spectators this many”.

The crowd at the
various recruitment centers all over Nigeria is actually not a strange
development, considering Nigeria’s unimpressive unemployment statistics.

In 2011, the National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the country’s unemployment rate at 23.9% , but
observers believe that not only is the true figure far higher, the rise in the
rate of unemployment over the last three years has been underestimated to paint
a rosy picture economic recovery by the Nigerian government.